Blister card packages are commonly used for distribution of many products including pharmaceutical drugs, batteries, sewing kits, toy cars, etc. A blister card package is used as a stiffener or backing sheet for packaging a product contained in a blister, which may comprise a blister strip having a single row of individual blisters, or a solid form blister having a two-dimensional matrix of individual blisters (which will be discussed in more detail below). Typically, the blister card package is comprised of pre-printed stiff paper, such as cardboard, that is folded to create at least two adjacent sides. One or both of the sides typically contains an aperture. The product to be packaged is usually encased in a clear plastic individual blister, which may be inserted between the two adjacent sides of the blister card package such that the product protrudes from one or both apertures. The two cardboard sides are then sealed, typically via application of heat and pressure, to retain the plastic individual blister within its blister card packaging.
Blister card packages may accommodate individual blisters (as illustrated above) or may be designed to accept blister strips or solid form blisters. The latter are commonly used to package pharmaceutical drugs for public distribution or clinical trials. Pharmaceutical drugs are distributed in many forms such as capsule, pill, lozenge, etc., which are amenable to distribution in blister strips or solid form blisters.
A blister strip comprises a contiguous strip of plastic individual blisters having a common backing, such as foil, that is one unit wide by any number of units long. In contrast, solid form blisters comprise both horizontal and vertical rows of individual blisters, however, solid form blisters also typically share a common backing.
Blister strips and solid form blisters are popular containers for pharmaceutical drugs because the strips may be specially configured to meet the dosage requirements of the drug. For example, an antibiotic drug prescription may require 16 pills to be taken in a specific order. The blister strip or solid form blister may be manufactured such that the pills are packaged in the same order that the pills should be taken. The blister strip or solid form blister may then be packaged in a pre-printed blister card package that contains printed instructions regarding when and how to take each dose. (Additionally, the insertion of one 16-dose strip or one 4-dose wide by 4-dose long solid form blister into a blister card package is much easier to perform than the insertion of 16 distinct blisters arranged in a specific order). Therefore, pharmaceutical drugs distributed to the public or used in clinical trials are typically packaged in blister strips or solid form blisters contained within a sealed blister card package.
Many blister card packaged products, especially pharmaceutical drugs, can be harmful, or even lethal, to children or mentally impaired adults. At the same time, however, the products contained in blister card packages may be vital to the health of other adults including senior citizens, some of which may have impaired physical and cognitive skills and/or poor eyesight. Consequently, it is desirable to manufacture blister card packages that impede a child's access to the product contained in the blister while simultaneously facilitating a senior citizen's access to its content. Such packaging is known in the art and is commonly referred to as child-resistant and senior-friendly packaging.
The federal government has implemented various laws to ensure that materials deemed by the government to be dangerous are packaged in child-resistant and senior-friendly packaging. Specifically, the federal government enacted the Poison Prevention Act of 1970 (“PPA”)(Pub. L. 91-601, 84 Stat. 1670, 15 U.S.C. 1471-75) on Dec. 30, 1970, which is incorporated herein by reference. The Poison Prevention Act of 1970 requires harmful substances to be packaged in child-resistant packaging, i.e., such that children under 5 years of age, having no physical or mental handicaps, cannot “open or obtain a harmful amount of the substance contained therein within a reasonable time” and senior-friendly packaging, i.e., such packaging must also “not [be] difficult for normal adults to use properly.” Notably, the PPA does not require that children be prevented from opening or obtaining a toxic or harmful amount of the substance 100 percent of the times attempted. When the substance is packaged in individual units, the Code of Federal Regulations requires that child-resistant packaging is effective no less than 80 out of every 100 attempts (16 C.F.R. 1700.15(b)(1)). Conversely, senior adults between ages 50 and 70, having no mental or physical disabilities, should be able to open the packaging no less than 90 out of every 100 attempts when permitted to view printed instructions that accompany the packaging (16 C.F.R. 1700.15(b)(2)(i-ii), 16 C.F.R. 1700.20(a)(3)(i), 16 C.F.R. 1700.20 (a)(3)(iv)).
To ensure compliance with the aforementioned federal guidelines, blister card packaging is submitted to a testing agency, which determines the child-resistance rating and whether or not the packaging is senior-friendly. Packaging is rated as senior-friendly solely based on the 90 percent guideline, i.e., senior adults are able to open the packaging at least 90 times out of every 100 attempts. However, the child resistance rating is determined on a scale ranging from F1 through F8. The F represents “fatal at” and the following number represents the number of doses, therefore, F4 is “fatal at 4 doses”. (Consequently, the more difficult it is for a child to access a product contained within a blister card package, the lower the child-resistance rating applied to the packaging). It is intuitive that products contained within packaging rated at F1, i.e., lethal at one dose, should be very difficult for children to access, whereas, products rated at F8, i.e., lethal at 8 doses, do not require the same level of difficulty. A blister card package that is to be used for distribution of potentially lethal pharmaceutical drugs or clinical trial drugs must pass the aforementioned federal guidelines prior to use. Additionally, the child resistance rating will determine what type of pharmaceutical drugs can be distributed within each rating of packaging, i.e., a pharmaceutical drug that is lethal at three doses cannot be packaged in a blister card package that is rated F4 through F8. When the lethal dose of a drug has not been established, federal regulations require an assumption that the drug is lethal at eight doses, therefore, such a drug may be distributed in packaging rated F8.
Blister card packages exist today that have passed the federal child-resistant and senior-friendly testing guidelines. Many existing, patented blister card packages were originally designed for distribution of non-lethal drugs and, therefore, were not required to pass the federal testing guidelines. To sell to a larger market of users, these blister card packages were modified to achieve child-resistance using a variety of methods including adding paperboard layers, adding plastic or tape layers to the exterior of the paperboard, reinforcing a frangible foil backing with a less frangible paper, etc.
After the aforementioned modifications were made, many blister card packages that were previously non-child-resistant were able to pass child resistance testing, however, the packaging became undesirable in other ways. For example, the additional, reinforced layers often prevented the pills from being pushed cleanly through the blister backing and thereby caused degradation of the backing of other adjacent pills. Specifically, some blister card package manufacturers have added a layer of paper to the foil backing through which a pill is pushed. The paper and/or foil backing sometimes does not tear cleanly, leaving the user only one option: scraping the backing until enough of it is removed to allow the user to grasp and peel the backing enough to reach the pill. This can be very difficult, especially for senior citizens or other adults with impaired physical abilities.
Furthermore, once the backing is grasped and torn, a user can easily tear too much backing, exposing other blisters. Consequently, the child resistance capabilities of the adjacent blister with the partially torn backing is lessened, thereby creating a potentially lethal hazard for children. Additionally, the user may not be able to scrape the backing to the point where the backing may be pulled, causing the user to resort to a sharp object such as a knife or scissors. Cutting of the blister card packaging can lead to many more problems including degradation of the child resistance properties of the other blisters, damage to the unused pills, damage to the printed instructions advising the user when and how to take the pills, etc.
Alternatively, if a user cannot remove the reinforced layer of the blister backing such that the pill is easily pushed through the non-reinforced layer of the blister backing, the user may attempt to force the pill through the reinforced backing. This leads to at least two major problems. First, damage may result to the content of the blister rendering those contents unusable. For example, if the blister contains a pharmaceutical drug contained in capsule form, the pressure exerted on the capsule may cause the capsule to burst, rendering it unusable. This can be very dangerous to the health of the user. Second, the user may resort to bending the overall blister card package causing damage to the blister, adjacent blisters, blister backings, and the content of the blisters, which again may be very dangerous to the health of the user. All of the aforementioned problems exist with the blister card packages known in the art.
In addition to the safety concerns discussed above, inferior blister card packaging also increases the cost of pharmaceutical drug clinical trials, which are required by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”). Prior to submission of clinical trial results to the FDA, a specified minimum number of clinical trial participants must successfully complete the clinical trial.
Many clinical trials are “double-blind,” i.e., both the subject and the administrators are unaware of which participant is receiving a particular drug. Thus, blister strips or solid form blisters contain information regarding each drug for use in an emergency, however, the blister card package hides the drug identification information from the participant. If the empty blister card package is degraded, the clinical trial participant may be exposed to the drug identification, causing that participant's results to be discarded. The reason for this is that if a participant is aware of which pill is a placebo versus an actual drug, the participant's response to each pill may be compromised because they are expecting a certain response. Therefore, use of blister card packages that are easily degraded adds to the cost of clinical trials because another participant must be found, and possibly paid, and a supervising physician must be paid to supervise the additional participant, which may cost the drug manufacturer as much as $50,000 per participant. Depending on the effectiveness of the blister card package, among other factors, a pharmaceutical company may be required to recruit 120 participants to expeditiously complete a clinical trial requiring 80 successful participants, thereby unnecessarily adding to the cost of clinical trials.
The following references are provided to further illustrate the state of the art of blister card packages as described above: Compere U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,221 (hereinafter referred to as “Compere”); Davie, Jr. et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,190 (hereinafter referred to as “Davie”); Dlugosz U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,789 (hereinafter referred to as “Dlugosz”); Intini U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,312 (hereinafter referred to as “the Intini '312 patent”); Intini U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,004 (hereinafter referred to as “the Intini '004 patent”); Wharton et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,812 (hereinafter referred to as “Wharton”); Bitner et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,310,060 (hereinafter referred to as “Bitner”); Sowden U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,968 (hereinafter referred to as “Sowden”); Price U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,960 (hereinafter referred to as “Price”); Matthews et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,469,968 (hereinafter referred to as “Matthews”); Leblong U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,774 (hereinafter referred to as “Leblong”); Vasquez et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,505 (hereinafter referred to as “Vasquez”); Dressel et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,180 (hereinafter referred to as “Dressel”); Plezia et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,915 (hereinafter referred to as “Plezia”); Faughey et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,888 (hereinafter referred to as “the Faughey '888 patent”); Faughey et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,930 (hereinafter referred to as “the Faughey '930 patent”); Godfrey et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,500 (hereinafter referred to as “Godfrey”); Ray et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,191 (hereinafter referred to as “Ray”); Gartland U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,699 (hereinafter referred to as “Gartland”); Danville U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,407 B2 (hereinafter referred to as “Danville”); and Swartz U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,391 B1 (hereinafter referred to as “Swartz”).
Compere, the Intini '312 patent, Wharton, Price, and Dressel disclose child-resistant blister card packaging having two layers covering the opening to each blister. To access the product contained within the blister, the user first peels an outer non-frangible layer, such as stiff paper, to expose an underlying frangible layer, such as thin foil. The underlying frangible layer comprises a material that allows the user to push the product contained within the blister through the frangible layer. This type of packaging is referred to as peel-push.
A few problems exist with peel-push blister card packaging. One such problem is the difficulty involved with grasping the outer layer such that it may be peeled. Since many outer layers are difficult to grasp, users tend to bend the overall packaging or use sharp objects to remove the outer layer, which results in damage to the packaging of the remaining products. In particular, some of these outer layers are so difficult to grasp that senior citizens or other adults suffering from diminished physical abilities or poor eyesight may not be able to access the blister product without assistance. Also, the damage to the remaining packaging diminishes its child resistance.
Another problem with peel-push packaging is that even if the user is able to grasp the outer layer, the user sometimes removes more of the outer layer than that which covers the desired product. Therefore, the frangible layer of other adjacent products that the user does not intend to remove is exposed. Again, this problem causes the child resistance rating of the adjacent product to be reduced, if not totally eliminated.
Davie also discloses peel-push blister card packaging. However, to remove the content of the blister as disclosed in Davie, the user peels away a tear strip that exposes the frangible foil backings of an entire row of blisters. After the tear strip is removed, the user may push the content of any blister in the row through its respective foil backing. The blister card packaging disclosed in Davie suffers the same limitations as other peel-push packaging, i.e., it is difficult to grasp the outer layer prior to peeling and the Davie product is actually designed to expose the frangible layer of products that are not ready to be removed. This aspect obviously diminishes the child resistant capabilities of the unopened package.
Dlugosz also discloses a peel-push blister card package, however, Dlugosz discloses a method that requires the user to first bend the package. The blister card package disclosed in Dlugosz comprises a paperboard sheet folded to create two adjacent paperboard sheets. The blisters are inserted between the two adjacent paperboard sheets and contain a frangible backing through which the user may push the content of the blister. To expose the frangible backing, the user removes a tear strip located on one of the paperboard sheets. The user grasps the tear strip by bending the edge of the paperboard to access a leading tab, which assists in the removal of the tear strip. Although Dlugosz discloses a better method of grasping the tear strip, Dlugosz still requires bending the packaging. Also, Dlugosz does not disclose a method that prevents the user from tearing more of the backing than necessary to expose the frangible layer of the desired product. Finally, the tear strip may still be difficult to grasp for senior citizens or other adults suffering from diminished physical abilities.
Similar to Dlugosz, the Intini '004 patent discloses a blister card package that requires the user to perform a “bend-peel-push” method to remove the content. First, the user bends the entire blister card package to expose a pull-tab. Then, the pull-tab may be used to peel away the outer layer of the card such that only the frangible layer remains. The content of the blister may then be pushed through the frangible layer. Although the Intini '004 patent discloses a better method of grasping the outer non-frangible layer, the Intini '004 patent still requires bending the packaging, which may be difficult for frail adults, especially those suffering from an ailment such as arthritis. Furthermore, because the Intini '004 patent requires both foil and paper frangible layers, it is difficult to push the product through the two frangible layers. This added resistance makes the card unsuitable for soft capsules, gel caps, and soft tablets/caplets. Furthermore, seniors have a more difficult time pressing products through the thicker frangible layers.
Bitner discloses a blister card package that requires a user to break a T-shaped perforation to access a corner of a non-frangible layer. The non-frangible layer may then be peeled away to expose the frangible layer. Subsequently, the user may push the content of the blister through the frangible layer. Although the additional layer containing the T-shaped perforation may provide a higher child resistance rating, the additional layer also adds another level of complexity for those users who suffer from diminished physical abilities or poor eyesight.
Sowden discloses a blister card package that requires the user to perform multiple steps to remove the content of the blister. Initially, the user must remove a single blister from a solid form blister. Next, the user peels a first strip from the single blister. Once the first peelable strip is removed, a depression is exposed that allows the user to peel away the backing of the blister, thereby gaining access to the content of the blister. Similar to the packaging disclosed in Bitner, although the additional complexity required to access the content of the blister might achieve a higher child resistance rating, the additional complexity also makes the content of the blister less accessible to those users who suffer from diminished physical abilities or poor eyesight.
Matthews discloses a blister card packaging comprising three distinct layers. The first, innermost layer is frangible, and the second and third outer layers are non-frangible. Moreover, the second and third layers are perforated in two distinct patterns. Therefore, the user initially removes the third, outermost layer according to its perforation pattern. Then, the second outermost layer is removed according to its distinct perforation pattern. Finally, the content can be pushed through the innermost frangible layer. The packaging disclosed in Matthews suffers from the same limitations as the aforementioned packaging containing two distinct layers, namely, the additional level of complexity required to access the product and the possibility that the user tears more of the backing than required, thereby reducing the child resistant properties of the packaging of the remaining products. However, these limitations are magnified by the addition of a third layer, i.e., the outermost, non-frangible layer.
Vasquez discloses a blister card package that requires a user to remove an individual blister from a solid form blister via perforations in the non-frangible layer. Once the individual blister has been isolated from the solid form blister, a pull-tab is exposed on the corner of the backing of the individual blister. The user then pulls the pull-tab to peel away the backing and access the content of the blister. Again, the Vasquez packaging requires multiple, intricate steps that will be difficult to perform by users suffering from diminished physical abilities or poor eyesight.
Leblong discloses a blister card package that requires the user to tear away two strips before accessing the content of a blister. The first strip is formed on the edge of a solid form blister. Once the first strip is torn away, multiple pull-tabs form a series of secondary strips are exposed. The user may then pull away an individual secondary strip by pulling the respective pull-tab, thereby exposing a frangible layer covering a row of blisters. Thereafter, the content of any blister in the row may be removed by pushing the content of the blister through the frangible layer. Again, when the blister card packaging is used to package pharmaceutical drugs, removing the non-frangible layer from an entire row of pills degrades the child resistance of the pills in the row that are not immediately removed.
Plezia, the Faughey '888 patent, the Faughey '930 patent, and Ray disclose blister card packages that require the user to press on a specified area of the blister card package to create a pull tab. Thereafter, the pull-tab may be pulled to remove the backing from the blister and expose the blister content. However, none of these patents disclose a method that prevents the user from removing more of the backing than that which covers the intended blister or blisters. In addition, although the pull-tab facilitates removal of the blister backing for an adult, the pull-tab also facilitates removal of the blister backing for a child.
Godfrey discloses a folded blister card package that encloses a blister, blister strip, or solid form blister. The side of the folded blister card that faces the blister backings comprises a series of oval perforations. To eject the content of a blister, the user simply presses the top of the blister forcing the content of the blister through the foil backing and the respective oval perforation, causing a hole to form in the blister card packaging through which the content of the blister may pass. If the rigidity of the perforated ovals is low, the packaging disclosed in Godfrey allows a child to have easy access to the blisters' content. In contrast, if the rigidity of the perforated ovals is high, the Godfrey packaging impedes access to the blisters' content for adults having impaired physical abilities.
Similar to Godfrey, Gartland also discloses a blister card package comprising a series of perforated ovals, however, Gartland discloses a layer of plastic film that covers the perforated ovals. To remove the perforated ovals, the user must first peel the plastic film from the ovals. The perforated ovals can then be removed such that the foil backing of the blisters are exposed. The user then pushes on an individual blister to force the blister content through the blister backing. These three steps can be very difficult for a senior citizen, or other adult, having impaired physical abilities. Such individuals may resort to sharp objects for removal of any of the aforementioned layers, which is likely to damage the packaging. In a clinical trial, the results of a participant that returns damaged, empty packaging may be discarded, thereby increasing the total number of participants and the cost of the clinical trial.
Danville discloses blister card packaging that also requires the user to perform a series of steps to access the blisters' content. First, the user must remove a group of blisters by pushing the group through a perforated section of the blister card package. Once the blister group is removed from the blister card package, a second perforation is exposed. The user then uses the second perforation to grab and tear the packaging in the area adjacent to the desired blister. Along the tear, there is an area wherein the portion of the backing being torn and the underlying backing are not adhered together. At this location, the layers may be easily separated allowing the innermost backing to be easily peeled away from the blister. Whereas the lack of adhesion between the outer and inner layers of the backing facilitate removal of the backing, the multiple peels required to remove the blister's content renders the Danville packaging difficult for adults having impaired physical abilities.
Finally, Swartz provides a blister card package that requires the user to tear the blister card package in two directions. Prior to tearing the blister card package, the user must remove a blister segment via a perforated section of the blister card package. Each blister segment comprises two lines cut in the blister segment backing such that the two lines merge on one side of the backing and are separated on the other side of the backing. Therefore, by pushing between these two lines at the point where the two lines merge, the user may create a pull-tab that may be used to begin tearing the segment backing. Finally, to access the content of the desired blister, the user continues to tear the previously torn backing in the direction of the desired blister. The blister card packaging disclosed in Swartz does not contain a method of preventing more than the desired backing from being torn. Additionally, the pressure exerted on the packaging to form the pull-tab may damage the packaging.
Thus, there is a clear need for child-resistant and senior-friendly blister card packaging that achieves a high child resistance rating when tested while remaining easy to use for senior citizens, including those with diminished physical abilities and/or poor eyesight. There is a further need for child-resistant and senior-friendly packaging equipped with a non-frangible backing that tears cleanly such that the frangible layer of only one individual blister is exposed, thereby maintaining the child resistance rating of adjacent individual blisters. Finally, there is also a need for a child-resistant and senior-friendly packaging that allows a tear strip to be torn and a the content of the individual blister to be pushed through a frangible layer without bending the entire blister card packaging or resulting to the use of sharp objects to access the individual blisters' content.